Few
men could claim a life filled with as much adventure as James Henry Tevis. He
was one of the first Americans to come to Arizona when it became part of the
United States in the 1850s, and had, even before the War Between the States,
more adventures than most men have in a lifetime. He had a lengthy and
distinguished career as a Confederate soldier, during which he suffered several
wounds, and after the war returned to Arizona, where he played a prominent role
in the development of mining and railroads in southeastern Arizona. His early
life would, eventually, be dramatized on television by Walt Disney during the
1950s. It is this thoroughly fascinating character out of Arizona history who
will form the subject of this article.

James
Henry Tevis

James
Henry Tevis was born at Wheeling, Virginia (now in West Virginia) on July 11,
1836. He was the son of John D. Tevis and his wife Elizabeth (McNamee) Tevis.1
Little is known of his early life and how he ended up in the far west. He
(possibly with his family) may have gone west during the California Gold Rush,
for Tevis was certainly in California by 1855. On May 3, 1855 a
"filibustering" expedition set sail from San Francisco, headed for
Nicaragua.2 Under the command of "General" William Walker,
sixty men sailed on that day, one of whom was 18-year-old James Henry Tevis.3

The
"filibusters" were a uniquely American phenomenon arising out of the
national conviction of Americaís "manifest destiny" which was
current during the 1840s and 1850s. Groups of private citizens organized
military expeditions to Mexico and Central America with the purpose of conquest,
either with the intent of adding the newly won territories to the United States,
or carving out private empires for themselves. These men, and the expeditions
themselves, were called "filibusters." Despite being in violation of
U.S. neutrality laws, these adventurers enjoyed wide support in the United
States, and especially in the South, where many of the "fire-eaters"
and other pro-slavery advocates recognized that any new territory gained in
Latin America could be organized into new slave states. And although the
filibusters were generally organized in California, the men who joined them were
generally Southerners as well. William Walker, a native of Tennessee who was a
firm believer in the need for slaveryís expansion into new territories, fit
this mold. The expedition to Nicaragua was in fact Walkerís second such
venture...he had led another expedition in a failed attempt to conquer the
Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora in 1853-1854.4

It
was Walkerís reputation as a leader, gained during his failed Mexican
filibuster, which lead one of the factions in the civil war then raging in
Nicaragua to appeal to him for aid, and it was under this pretext that he
organized his expedition. However, like all of Walkerís other filibustering
expeditions, the incursion into Nicaragua was not to meet with success, although
he briefly managed to get himself declared President of Nicaragua, and his men
managed to hold out against the combined Nicaraguan and Costa Rican armies for
two years. However, the filibusters were finally forced to surrender in May
1857, being given the unusual courtesy of being allowed to leave with their
lives.5

Little
is known about the participation of James Henry Tevis in Walkerís Nicaraguan
Filibuster of 1855-1857. However, it would appear that he must have acquitted
himself well and earned the respect of his comrades in arms. The April 24, 1860
edition of the WEEKLY ARIZONIAN, a newspaper published in Tucson,
Arizona, reported that Tevis "held a commission under General Walker in
Nicaragua," which if true, was quite an accomplishment for an 18-year-old
lad!6

NEW
MEXICO TERRITORY AS IT WAS WHEN TEVIS ARRIVED IN 1857

After
returning from his Nicaraguan experiences, Tevis apparently ended up in Texas,
where he joined a party of 24 men who were organizing a wagon train headed for
Arizona.7 In 1857 what we now call Arizona was part of the United
States Territory of New Mexico, and the term "Arizona" itself
referred, at that time, only to the region south of the Gila River...roughly the
southern 1/3 of the present day States of Arizona and New Mexico. Tevis arrived
with this party at Mesilla, on the Rio Grande near present-day Las Cruces, New
Mexico, sometime between July and September of 1857 (Tevis, writing years later,
could not remember the exact date), and shortly afterward he was in Tucson.8

Soon
after his arrival in Tucson, James Henry Tevis struck up a friendship with Mose
Carson, older brother of the famous mountain man and trapper Kit Carson. It was
from Mose Carson that Tevis would learn how to survive and prosper in the arid
Arizona wilderness. Carson, probably in late September 1857, invited Tevis to
join him on a hunting trip up the San Francisco River. On their return trip
Tevis had his first encounter with the Apaches, when a band of Mangas Coloradasís
Mimbrenos attacked them near present-day Clifton, Arizona. After a running gun
battle which carried them all the way back to the outskirts of Tucson, the
Apaches finally gave up the chase, and both Tevis Carson escaped with their
lives.9

RICHARD
EWELL AS A CONFEDERATE GENERAL

A
few days after his arrival back in Tucson (the date is uncertain, but probably
sometime in late September or early October 1857), Tevis left for Fort Buchanan,
on the banks of Sonoita Creek near present-day Patagonia. It was there that he
would make the acquaintance of another Virginian, Captain Richard S. Ewell
(later, as a Confederate Lt. General, to command a Corps in Robert E. Leeís
Army of Northern Virginia), with whom he also became friends. He joined a
expedition of Captain Ewellís troops who were sent out to locate some stolen
livestock. They ended up in Apache Pass, located at the northern end of the
Chiricahua Mountains, which was the home of several hundred Apaches under chiefs
such as Cochise, Old Jack, Esconolea, and Francisco. At the pass they came upon
employees of the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach Company who were erecting a
stagecoach station. Tevis decided to remain behind when the soldiers returned to
Fort Buchanan, and took a job as a laborer with the Butterfield construction crew. He must have favorably impressed his co-workers, because he was shortly
afterward hired to serve as the agent for the new station.10

Tevis
would serve as agent in charge of the Butterfield station at Apache Pass until
early 1860. During this time he would make the acquaintance, sometimes under
life-threatening circumstances, of several of the Apache war chiefs, including
Cochise, Old Jack, and Esconolea. He would save the life of, and in the process
befriend, Esconolea, who would teach him the Apache language and Apache warfare
tactics and tracking skills. All of these would be very useful for young Tevis
later on. And, although neither man knew it at the time, Esconolea would one day
pay his debt in full and save Tevis himself from death. His relationship with
Old Jack, and especially Cochise, was always strained, and it would be a final
rift with Cochise which finally caused him to resign his post as agent of the
Apache Pass Station in the spring of 1860.11

LEWIS OWINGS

GOVERNOR
OF THE PROVISIONAL TERRITORY OF ARIZONA, 1860

Tevis
returned to Tucson in April 1860, to find that a Convention had been held which
had declared the creation of a Provisional U.S. Territory of Arizona (the
proceedings of this convention were never ratified by the United States
Congress, so the Provisional Territory never became a legal entity. But for a
time it did operate as a de facto, if not de jure, government for
Arizona). Dr. Lewis Owings had been elected Governor of the Provisional
Territory, and upon hearing that Tevis had arrived in Tucson, appointed him to
raise the first of 3 companies of Arizona Rangers for the protection of the
Territory from marauding Apaches and bandits. Tevis would later credit his
appointment to the fact that "I was the only white man in Arizona who spoke
the Apache language and understood the signals, hence my success in my
engagements with them."12 This company is generally considered
to be the origin of the later Arizona Rangers police force, which was to gain
fame in Arizona for its pursuit of desperados during the last decades of the
19th Century.13

MANGAS
COLORADAS

CHIEF
OF THE MIMBRENO APACHES

In
May 1860, one Jacob Snively discovered gold at Pinos Altos, New Mexico (north of
present-day Silver City). Tevis immediately headed to Pinos Altos to make his
fortune, and to recruit for his new ranger company.14 The Rangers
would be needed at Pinos Altos, because the discovery of gold, and the influx of
white men into the region, had led Mangas Coloradas and the Mimbrenos onto the
warpath. Tevis never did strike it rich at the diggings, but he was kept busy
leading expeditions against the ever-troublesome Apache.15

On
one of these campaigns, Tevis and two of his men were captured by a large party
of Mimbreno. Tevis knew his chances of survival were not good, since the usual
fate of prisoners of the Apache was death by slow torture. His fears were
dramatically sharpened when, soon afterward, Cochise and his band rode into the
camp. In their final altercation at Apache Pass, Cochise had said, "Tevis,
I shall burn you alive and dance while you are burning." Cochise was
delighted to find his old enemy a captive, took charge of the prisoners, and
headed back to Apache Pass. Along the way, the three men were continuously
tortured, and at one point Tevis was forced to watch as his comrades were hung,
upside down, with their heads suspended two feet above the ground. A fire was
built underneath their heads and the unfortunate victims were slowly roasted
alive. Cochise continuously reminded Tevis that a special fate awaited him at
Apache Pass.16

When
they finally reached Apache Pass, the Apaches held a grand celebration during
which the warriors got drunk on tiswin. Finally, late that night, the
celebration died down, and the inebriated Apaches fell asleep...all except one.
Tevisís old friend Esconolea had retained his wits through the celebration,
and he now came to Tevis. Applying medicine to Tevisís wounds, he released
Tevis from his bonds, and gave him back his two six-shooters, saying "I
borrowed your six-shooters from Cochise while he was sleeping, thinking you
might need them." Tevis was too badly injured to walk, so Esconolea picked
him up and placed him onto the back of a waiting horse, whose hooves had been
wrapped with deerskin to muffle sound. He then said, "Good, run! I must go
back and pretend to be drunk with the rest, for when Cochise awakens and finds
you gone, he will be in a bad humour." With a grin, Esconolea slipped away
into the darkness. Tevis rode off and made his escape, and he never saw
Esconolea again.17

A
CONFEDERATE STARS AND BARS FLAG

Tevisís
escape from certain death at the hands of Cochise occurred in late 1860, and
shortly afterward he, along with the other citizens of Arizona, watched as the
nation slowly began to tear itself apart. The election of Abraham Lincoln to the
Presidency in November 1860 lead to the secession of South Carolina from the
Union on December 20, 1860. Six other states left the Union over the next
month-and-a-half, and in February 1861 delegates from the seceded states met at
Montgomery, Alabama, to form a new nation...the Confederate States of America.
News of this development reached Arizona in early March 1861, and on March 16, a
Convention of the People of Arizona was held at Mesilla to discuss Arizonaís
stance with regard to the ruptured Union. It was decided that Arizona should
secede from the U.S. Territory of New Mexico, and apply for annexation by the
new Confederacy.18 Soon a Confederate "Stars and Bars" flag could be seen flying over
the town of Mesilla, clearly visible to the Federal garrison at Fort Fillmore,
directly across the Rio Grande River from the town. The local garrison
commander...Colonel William W. Loring, who would later resign his post to serve
as a Confederate General...took no action to quell these acts of open rebellion
against Federal authority. Thus the situation remained for several months.19

It
is unknown what, if any, part James Henry Tevis played in these proceedings. In
all likelihood he was still at Pinos Altos, engaged in mining, and did not
directly participate. He would, shortly after the Mesilla Convention, disband his
Arizona Ranger Company, possibly because he felt that the authority under which
it was raised no longer existed, with the secession of Arizona from the Union.20
But as a Southerner, he certainly supported the secessionist movement in Arizona
and, of course, in the Confederacy itself, and he would, before the year was
out, have his chance to fight for the cause of Southern Independence.

LT.
COLONEL JOHN ROBERT BAYLOR

SECOND
TEXAS MOUNTED RIFLES

On
July 25, 1861, Lt. Colonel John Robert Baylor, Second Texas Mounted Rifles, led
a force of 250 Confederate cavalrymen up the Rio Grande from his base at Fort
Bliss, Texas. By the end of July 27, Baylorís force had managed to capture the
700 men of the Federal garrison of Fort Fillmore virtually without a fight. The
Confederate commander now found himself in possession, by default (as his was
the only military force of any consequence left in the area), of virtually the
entire southern half of the Territory of New Mexico. On August 1, Baylor issued
a Proclamation declaring the creation of the Confederate Territory of Arizona,
with himself as Governor. The new Territory would consist of all of the old
Territory of New Mexico, south of 34 degrees north latitude, extending from the
Texas border to the Colorado River.21

Soon
after creating the new Territory, Baylor called up the various local militia
companies in the Territory and mustered them into the Confederate service.22
He also called for volunteers to join these companies, or other units, to defend
the new Territory from the various threats...Yankees to the north, Mexican
bandits to the south, and Apaches everywhere in between...which it faced. James
Henry Tevis responded to this call, and in August 1861 joined the San Elizario
Spy Company, commanded by Captain Bethel Coopwood, as a Private.23
The San Elizario Spy Company had been formed at El Paso on July 11, 1861...even
before Baylorís invasion of New Mexico....but Captain Coopwood and most other
members of the Company were Arizona men. Thus it was a natural choice for Tevis
to join.

BETHEL
COOPWOOD

Private
Tevis was soon in action with the San Elizario Spy Company. The company
conducted scouts and forays, mainly northward along the Rio Grande, pursuing
hostile Indians and skirmishing with Union patrols sent down from Fort Craig,
about 80 miles north of Mesilla on the Rio Grande.24 On September 27,
1861, the company was attacked by a Union force twice itís size at a place
called Canada Alamosa, approximately 35 miles south of Fort Craig. Despite being
heavily outnumbered, in a nasty four-hour fight, the Confederates drove off
their attackers, inflicting 12 or 13 killed and an unknown number of wounded for
a loss of 2 men killed and 8 wounded. Captain Coopwood, in his report of the
battle, specially mentions Private Tevis, who was given command of a platoon
(normally the job of a Lieutenant) in spite of his lowly privateís rank, and
ably performed his duties.25

SHEROD
HUNTER

Little
is known of Tevis or his activities over the next few months, and doubtless he
was still with the San Elizario Spy Company, patrolling along the Rio Grande and
skirmishing with Yankees from Fort Craig. The next time we find definite news of
him is in January 1862, when he transferred from the San Elizario Spy Company
into a new company which was being raised by Captain Sherod Hunter. This company
was to be the first of a proposed regiment of Arizona Rangers being created by
Confederate Governor Baylor for the purpose of frontier defense.26
Tevis and Hunter were long-time friends, having met shortly after Tevis arrived
in Arizona back in 1857, and Hunter was looking for a capable and experienced
leader to serve as Second Lieutenant in the new Company.

The
new Company A, Baylorís Regiment of Arizona Rangers, would be mustered in at
Dona Ana, near Mesilla, on January 25, 1862.27 However, even before
that date, Lieutenant Tevis was definitely under Hunterís command, and
involved in a rather unpleasant mission at Mesilla. On January 2, 1862, Governor
Baylor and 550 men had surrounded the town of Canada Alamosa, having heard that
a Union force was encamped there. However, when they arrived, they found that
the Yankees had evacuated the town on the day prior. It was immediately
suspected that disloyal elements within the community had "tipped off"
the Unionists, allowing them to escape the trap. After an investigation, it was
found that there were indeed "traitors" in their midst, in the form of
two men named Marshall and Applezoller. On January 19, 1862, Governor Baylor
ordered Captain Hunter to arrest these men, and then directed that they be
"questioned and interned." Hunter gave command of the detachment
assigned to carry out this task to Lieutenant Tevis. It is unclear what happened
next, but Marshall ended up dead, hanging from a cottonwood tree outside town.
One account states that Governor Baylor ordered that the prisoners be
"hoisted by the rope" to induce them to reveal information about Union
strength at Fort Craig, but Marshall was hung too long and died. Another account
states that Marshall, his hands tied, was taken to the cottonwood and hung,
after which other prisoners, including Applezoller, were marched past his body,
one by one, and told he had been hanged "as a traitor to his country."
A rope was then placed around Applezollerís neck and he was hoisted for a few
seconds before being lowered to the ground. Applezoller and the other prisoners
were then taken back to their jail cell. In 1866, a grand jury in Dona Ana
County, New Mexico, returned a true bill charging murder in the death of
Marshall, and Tevis was among several former Confederates charged. However, the
charges were subsequently dropped, and Tevis never stood trial for his actions
that day.28

COLONEL
JAMES REILY

On
February 10, 1862 Company A was ordered to occupy Tucson, the most important
town in the western portion of the Confederate Territory of Arizona.29
Tucson's adobe houses and 3,000 inhabitants were strategically located astride
the only road leading east from California toward the Confederate enclave in the
Mesilla Valley, and thus was the ideal spot to place an advanced Confederate
outpost to watch for the approach of invading Yankees from California. By taking
possession of Tucson, The Confederates would also be making good on their claim
to possession of Western Arizona, which up to now had existed only on paper.30

Traveling
with Company A was a detachment of Captain Thomas Helmís Arizona Guards,
serving as escort for Colonel James Reily. In command of this detachment was Lt.
Jack Swilling. Reily was on a diplomatic mission to the Governor of the Mexican
State of Sonora, and Hunter had been ordered to see that Reily was escorted
safely to the border, "or to some place where he can obtain an escort from
the Mexican authorities."31

Company
A arrived in Tucson on February 27, 1862, and on March 1, they held a ceremony
in which they raised the Stars and Bars over the town plaza.32 Thus
began the most significant campaign in the Company's career as a Confederate
Army unit. Company A would occupy Tucson until May 14, 1862, when the approach
of a 2,000-man Union force under the command of Colonel James Henry Carleton,
the so-called "California Column," forced them to retreat back to the
Mesilla Valley. The invasion of Arizona by this Union force would have come much
sooner save for the brilliant hit-and-run tactics employed by Captain Hunter and
Company A. Elements of Company A managed to capture, without firing a shot, an
advanced detachment of the 1st California Cavalry on March 18, 1862, and clashed
with Union forces twice, at Stanwix Station (March 30, 1862, generally
considered to be the westernmost skirmish of the War Between the States) and
Picacho Pass (April 15, 1862, generally considered to be the westernmost battle
of the war). The tiny Confederate force destroyed reserves of hay stored along
the route from California to Tucson, and confiscated 1,500 sacks of wheat stored
for the Union forces at the villages of the Pima Indians (on the Gila River,
about 30 miles south of present-day Phoenix, Arizona, forcing the Yankees to
halt at the villages while new supplies were gathered. The net effect of Company
A's activities was to delay the advance of the California Column for over a
month, which probably saved the Confederate Army of New Mexico (the main
Confederate force in Arizona and New Mexico, which had advanced northward along
the Rio Grande to capture Albuquerque and Santa Fe before being defeated at the
Battle of Glorietta Pass in March 1862 and forced to retreat back to Mesilla)
from being intercepted and destroyed by the California Column as it retreated
through the mountains back to the Mesilla Valley during April 1862.33

LT.
JACK SWILLING, ARIZONA GUARDS

However,
Lieutenant Tevis would miss most of the early stages of the campaign. When
Colonel Reily left Tucson for Sonora on March 3, his escort was commanded not by
Lt. Swilling (who had been assigned to command it), but by Lt. Tevis instead.
There is no explanation given in any of the surviving records as to why this
change was made. L. Boyd Finch has speculated that since Tevis was known to be
familiar with the Tubac area and northern Sonora, and Swilling was familiar with
the Butterfield Overland route to California, the change may have been made to
better utilize the respective skills of the two men.34 And this is probably as good an
explanation as any. Lieutenant Tevis and the Confederate escort were halted at
the frontier town of Magdalena and a Mexican escort was furnished in its place,
so Tevis and his 20-man command were probably back in Tucson within less than a
week.35 But by that time, Sherod Hunter and the main part of Company
A were already at the Pima Villages. He would play no further role in the
campaign until after the Battle of Picacho Pass.

We
do have one interesting tidbit from the period before Picacho Pass. When Colonel
Reily returned from Sonora in early April, he stayed a few days in Tucson before
heading back to Mesilla. Reily and Tevis had apparently struck up a friendship
on the trip down to the Mexican border, and Tevis had convinced Reily of the
riches to be made at Pinos Altos. On April 4, two days before Reily departed for
Mesilla, he and Tevis concluded a business deal in which Tevis sold him 200
yards of a quartz vein in a mining camp.36

CONFEDERATE
CAVALRY RIDE AWAY FROM PICACHO PASS

Lieutenant
Tevisís next role in the campaign occurred on April 16, 1862. In the wake of
the battle at Picacho Pass, Captain Hunter sent Lieutenant Tevis, with ten men,
to Picacho Pass in search of three men who were missing after the engagement
(they had been captured by the Unionists at the outset of the battle). Tevis
reported that he had seen the Union force, which he estimated at 200 cavalry and
five wagons (a remarkably accurate count) retreating in the direction of the
Pima villages, but had found no sign of the missing men. Armed with this
information, Hunter had written to Governor Baylor, requesting a reinforcement
of at least 250 men, with which he felt he could hold Tucson for the
Confederacy.37 When no reinforcements were forthcoming, Hunter
decided to evacuate Tucson. Company A left Tucson on May 14, leaving behind a
small detachment under the command of Lt. James Henry Tevis to watch for the
approach of Union forces from the north.38 Unknown to the
Confederates, on that same day, the Union California Column finally left its
bivouac at the Pima Villages for its final advance on Tucson.39 Lt.
Tevis and his detachment were surprised and almost captured when the Yankee
cavalry charged into town on May 20. Recalling the incident years later, Tevis
candidly described his reaction to the entry of the Union troops: "They got
too close for my health and I left." Tevis and his men managed to escape
and rejoin the main body of Company A a few days later.40

COLONEL
WILLIAM STEELE, SEVENTH TEXAS CAVALRY

PICTURED
IN GENERAL'S UNIFORM LATER IN THE WAR

Company
A arrived back in La Mesilla on May 27, 1862.41 Once there it was
combined with the Arizona Guards (under the command of Captain Thomas Helm) and
the Arizona Rangers of Mesilla (under the command of Captain Granville Henderson
Oury) to form a battalion of Arizona cavalry under the command of Lt. Colonel
Philemon T. Herbert.42 The said battalion was part of a detachment
left behind, under the command of Colonel William Steele, to watch for the
approach of Union forces from the north and west as the bulk of the Confederate
Army of New Mexico retreated to safety in San Antonio, Texas. During this period
Company A took part in foraging activities in the countryside surrounding La
Mesilla, and on July 1, 1862 it clashed with a band of native Mexican guerillas
(none of the Confederates were killed or wounded, but several lost their horses
and equipment as a result of the engagement). Little is known about what role,
if any, James Tevis may have had in all this. A few days later, on July 7, the
approach of Union forces forced the Confederates to abandon the Mesilla Valley,
and the Confederate Territory of Arizona, forever.43

Company
A was among the last of the Confederate units to leave Arizona...indeed, Tevis
would claim (after the war) that Company A was THE last Confederate unit to
leave, and that Tevis himself commanded the rearguard of the Confederate Army.44
It finally arrived in San Antonio in late July, 1862, with sixty-three men fit
for duty (Company A, unlike the other Arizona companies which formed Herbert's
Battalion of Arizona Cavalry, seems not to have suffered from significant rates
of desertion as the unit prepared to leave Arizona).45 The arrival of
Company A and the rest of Herbert's Battalion in San Antonio would mark the
beginning of a period of exile for the Arizona troops. But exile would not mean
inactivity, and Jim Tevis, with the rest of the Arizona men, would see much
action over the next three years.

When
Company A arrived in San Antonio they found a city in chaos. News of the loss of
Arizona and the arrival of the Union California Column on the Rio Grande had
preceded them into the city, and there was widespread fear that the Yankees
would follow up their conquest of Confederate Arizona with an invasion of Texas.
As it turned out, however, such fears proved illusory. The Unionists contented
themselves with the occupation of El Paso and some other isolated settlements in
the extreme west of Texas, and then settled down to consolidate their rule in
Arizona (and mete out punishment to the local secessionists who had not
retreated with the Confederate Army of New Mexico to the safety of Texas).46

Thus,
Herbert's Battalion was afforded a period of several months to rest and refit.
Although no record has survived to document it, it was during this time that the
Arizona troops would likely have received their first issue of actual
Confederate uniform. These were most likely locally made, undyed cotton/wool
jeancloth garments made at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, Texas,
which were being issued to most units in the far west during this time period.47

Company
A received not only new uniforms during this time period, but a new commanding
officer. On October 2, 1862, Sherod Hunter resigned his commission as Captain of
Company A to accept the post of Major in Colonel George Wythe Baylor's Regiment
of Texas-Arizona Cavalry, also known as the Second Cavalry Regiment, Arizona
Brigade. First Lieutenant Robert L. Swope, like Hunter a native of Tennessee who
had migrated to Arizona in the 1850s, was promoted to Captain and assumed
command of Company A on October 3. James Henry Tevis was promoted to the post of
First Lieutenant, replacing Swope.48

HENRY
HOPKINS SIBLEY

Shortly
after their arrival in San Antonio, Herbertís Battalion was formally assigned
to the "Sibley Brigade," as the former the Army of New Mexico was now
called.49 Their drunken and thoroughly discredited commander,
Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley, was not with them, however...shortly
after his arrival in San Antonio he was called to Richmond to explain his
conduct during the failed campaign in New Mexico. He would not return until
December, 1862, and in the interim, the Brigade was commanded by Colonel Thomas
Green.50

On
December 2, 1862, General Henry Hopkins Sibley was ordered to New Iberia,
Louisiana, there to take over, once again, command of the Brigade. Upon his
December 25 arrival at Opelousas, La., enroute for New Iberia, he found that
most of the Brigade had been ordered to Galveston by General John Bankhead Magruder, where
they were to win a spectacular victory over a combined Union land and naval
force which had captured Galveston harbor. However, Sibley reported that Herbertís
Battalion was there in Louisiana with him, and had been "actively and
usefully employed" in scouting "in the vicinity of Plaquemine and the
Mississippi River."51

After
their success at Galveston, the rest of the Sibley Brigade was ordered into
Louisiana, rejoining their comrades of Herbertís Battalion and General
Sibley. The Brigade was then assigned to an army under General Richard Taylor
which was operating in support of the Confederate defenders of Vicksburg and
Port Hudson. It was hoped that Confederate forces operating on the west bank of
the Mississippi might draw Union forces away from Vicksburg, allowing other
Confederate forces gathering at Jackson, Mississippi under General Joseph E.
Johnston to relieve the besieged city Unfortunately for the Confederacy, such
was not to be the case, and Vicksburg would surrender on July 4, 1863. But
successful or not, this attempt to succor the Confederacyís last bastions on
the Mississippi River would soon place the men of the Sibley Brigade in combat
during the Bayou Teche Campaign.52

Captain
Robert L. Swope would not lead Company A during the Teche Campaign. In February
1863, shortly after the arrival of the Sibley Brigade in Louisiana, Swope
resigned as commander of Company A, apparently as a result of an ongoing feud
with the commander of the Arizona Battalion, Lt. Colonel Philemon T. Herbert.
First Lieutenant Tevis was placed in command, although he was apparently not
promoted to the rank of Captain at this time.53

TOM
GREEN

In
April 1863, the Sibley Brigade (including Herbertís Arizona Battalion) was
among the men with which General Taylor confronted the Yankee army under General
Nathaniel Banks at Fort Bisland, on the Bayou Teche. The Battle of Fort Bisland
was a defeat for the Confederates, and General Taylor ordered a retreat. General
Sibley, in command of the rear guard, nearly lost his command at Franklin,
Louisiana, when he (possibly under the influence of alcohol) ordered the last
bridge across the Bayou Teche burned before his men had made their escape.
Seeing the bridge in flames behind them, they quickly disengaged from the enemy
and fled, the last of them crossing just as the bridge was fully engulfed in
flames. Sibley was soon afterward court-martialed for this and other offenses,
and although he was not convicted, he was removed from command of the Brigade.
The popular Colonel Thomas Green, who had led the brigade with distinction in
earlier campaigns, was promoted to Brigadier General and placed in command f the
Brigade.54

The
many skirmishes which took place as Taylorís army retreated before the
advancing Union army of General Nathaniel Banks during April and May of 1863
gradually sapped the strength of Herbert's Battalion of Arizona Cavalry (whose
three companies' combined strength had numbered no more than 180 men when the
Battalion was formed in July 1862). In just one such fight, near New Iberia,
Louisiana, Lieutenant Tevis would later report, Company A suffered the loss of
more than 15 men who were "cut down by sabres."55 By the
end of May 1863 the Battalion had been reduced to the point where it was no
longer an effective organization, and it was broken up. Company A under
Lieutenant Tevis still had enough men to continue as a viable company, and was
kept in being as an independent company, attached to the Green's Brigade.. The
other two companies of the Battalion (the former Arizona Guards of Pinos Altos
and Arizona Rangers of Mesilla) were disbanded at this time, and the men within
them were consolidated with Company A. The resulting combination would be
henceforth known as the Arizona Scouts.56

Lieutenant
Tevis and the men of the Arizona Scouts would now be re-united with their former
commander, Sherod Hunter. As mentioned earlier, Hunter had taken a commission as
Major in the Second Texas-Arizona Cavalry Regiment of the Arizona Brigade. The
Arizona Brigade was broken up in May 1863, and the Second and Third
Texas-Arizona Cavalry Regiments were assigned to Green's Texas Cavalry Brigade.57
As it happened, they arrived in Louisiana just as Herbert's Battalion was being
broken up. Although there is no direct proof of it, Captain Tevis and the
Arizona Scouts may have been attached at this time to the Second Texas-Arizona
Cavalry Regiment..58

The
surrender of Vicksburg (and the lesser Confederate bastion at Port Hudson,
Louisiana) in July 1863 led to the retreat of Green's Brigade to the region of
Shreveport, Louisiana. In November 1863, Lt. Tevis and the Arizona Scouts fought
with Green's Brigade as they resisted a Union invasion up the Bayou Teche. In
early December 1863 the brigade was recalled to Texas, in response to a
threatened assault on Galveston by a Union naval force (which assault never
materialized).59

JAMES
PATRICK MAJOR

In
late December of 1863, while still encamped near Galveston, the Second and Third
Texas-Arizona Cavalry Regiments were re-assigned to the Texas Cavalry Brigade
commanded by Brigadier General James Patrick Major.60 It would seem
that the Arizona Scouts went with them, as in February 1864 they were among the
companies detached from various regiments (Baylorís, Chisumís, Crumpís,
and Madisonís) of Major's Brigade to form a Scouting Battalion under the
command of Major William Saufley. The Arizona Scout company became Company E of
the Battalion, and James Henry Tevis seems to have finally been promoted to
Captain at this time.61 Whether Saufley's Scouting Battalion ever was
more than a paper organization, however, is uncertain, and during January and
February 1864 it is known that Captain Tevis, along with his company, operated
as part of a command under Colonel James Duff (33rd Texas Cavalry) near
Indianola, Texas.62

CAPTAIN
JAMES HENRY TEVIS, ARIZONA SCOUTS

Photo
courtesy of the William J. Kelly Collection.

.On
March 5, 1864, James P. Major's Texas Cavalry Brigade was ordered back to
Louisiana to oppose the invasion then proceeding up the Red River by a combined
Union army and naval force under Major General Nathaniel Banks. During this
campaign, Major's Brigade was combined with two other cavalry Brigades (Green's
Brigade, now commanded by Colonel Arthur P. Bagby, and a brigade of Louisiana
regiments) to form a Cavalry Division under the command of now-Major General Tom
Green. Captain Tevis and the Arizona Scouts fought as part of Major's Brigade
during this campaign (whether as part of Saufleyís Battalion or attached to
the Second Texas-Arizona Cavalry or to Duffís Regiment is unknown),
participating in the major battles at Wilson's Farm (April 7, 1864), Mansfield
(April 8, 1864) and Pleasant Hill (April 9, 1864), as well as numerous other
skirmishes throughout the rest of the campaign. In one notable instance, on May
1, 1864 near Wilsonís Landing on the Red River, "after an exciting chase
of 2 miles" the Arizona Scouts under Lt. John M. Smith assisted in the
capture of a Union transport, the U.S.S. Emma. Her crew was made
prisoner, and the vessel itself was burned. Captain Tevis had apparently been
severely wounded, possibly at Mansfield (no contemporaneous record of his wounds
exists, but after the war he stated that he had been wounded in both arms and
lost a lung) earlier in the campaign, and the Arizona Scouts served under the
command of First Lieutenant John M. Smith for the rest of the campaign.63

After
the retreat of the Union forces and the abandonment of their Red River invasion,
General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of all Confederate forces in the
Transmississippi, ordered the bulk of the Confederate troops in Louisiana to
move north into Arkansas. The Texas Cavalry Division, which since the death of
Thomas Green at the Battle of Blair's Plantation (April 12, 1864) had been under
the command of Major General John A. Wharton, was among the units ordered
northward. Major's Cavalry Brigade, including the Arizona Scouts, went with
them. For the rest of 1864 the Arizona Scouts would serve in Arkansas, fighting
minor skirmishes which would claim the lives of its members, and otherwise
settling into the humdrum routine of picket duty and scouting between the lines.

Most,
if not all, of the Arizona men yearned to return to their homes in Arizona. But
this did not reduce the determination of the Arizonans to "stick it out to
the end" if that was the only way that Arizona might yet be freed, and
Tevis was no exception. In November of 1864, Captain Tevis (who by that time had
recovered from his wounds and been restored to command of the Arizona Scouts)
voiced this sentiment when he wrote to Dr. Lewis Owings. Owings was now acting
as Confederate Arizonaís unofficial "Governor-in-exile" in San
Antonio. Tevis wrote: "Here I am in this miserable State of Arkansas and
praying every day that I may be ordered somewhere else...We are all ready to
fight four years longer even if the government never gives us any clothing or
pays us a dollar. I think we will be the last men to give up."64
As it turned out, Tevis was not far wrong.

GENERAL
JOHN A. WHARTON

As
the year 1865 dawned, prospects for the Confederacy looked bleak, and only got
worse as time wore on. Many Confederate soldiers in all theatres could see the
handwriting on the wall, and desertion rose to unprecedented levels (of 358,692
men on the official rolls of the Confederate Army at the close of the war, a
staggering 198,494 were absent from the ranks, leaving slightly over 160,000
actually in the field when the end came...55 percent of the entire army had
deserted their posts and gone home).65 In the Transmississippi,
mutinies occurred in many Texas units, including Wharton's Texas Cavalry
Division. However, Captain Tevis and the Arizona Scouts did not take part in
these mutinies, and were singled out for special praise by General Wharton for
"remaining true to their colours" in a dispatch dated February 24,
1865.66

The
collapse came in April 1865, with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army
of Northern Virginia, then of General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee, signaling
the end of effective Confederate resistance east of the Mississippi.
Other eastern Confederate armies, such as that of General Sam Jones in Florida
and of General Richard Taylor in Alabama, soon followed suit. By the time May
was in full bloom, Kirby Smith's Army of the Transmississippi was the only
significant Confederate fighting force still in existence.

KIRBY
SMITH

Many
in the Transmississippi armies wanted to continue the struggle, including
Captain James Henry Tevis, who six weeks after Lee's surrender was still
exhorting his fellow Confederates to fight on to "victory or death, which
will be preferable to subjugation."67 But the majority of
Confederate soldiers could see that the end had come and simply wanted to go
home, and the Army of the Transmississippi melted away like mist before the
morning sun. General Edmund Kirby Smith, conceding at last the reality of
Confederate defeat, surrendered all Confederate forces west of the Mississippi
River on May 26, 1865, and shortly thereafter the Arizonans themselves had to
admit the futility of continuing the struggle and gathered for their final
muster at Hempstead, Texas.68 Of the 15 men who gathered that day,
Captain Tevis would later recall, only three ever returned to Arizona.69
Tevis himself would be among these.

But
the road back to Arizona would be a long one for Jim Tevis. At the close of the
war, instead of moving to Arizona, he instead moved to St. Louis, Missouri,
where he tried various occupations including streetcar conductor, riverboat
captain, baker, grocer, and windmill inventor/promoter.70 While in
St. Louis he met and married Emma Boston on December 24, 1866, by whom he would
eventually have eight children (three sons and five daughters). He remained in
St. Louis until 1877, when he moved to Kansas for 3 years (it is unknown what he
did in Kansas or why he went there).71

In
1880, Arizona beckoned Tevis once again, and he moved, with his family, to
Cochise County. He located 19 mining claims that year in the Chiricahua
Mountains and the Dos Cabezas Mining District of Cochise County. He apparently
settled at Tombstone for a while (right during the period of the famous showdown
at the OK Corral), and his personal property at Tombstone assessed at $3,875 in
1882 and $6,075 in 1883.72

In
1884 Tevis moved to Tres Cebollas (Bowie Station) on the Southern Pacific
Railway, where he operated the Southern Pacific Hotel. Over the next few years a
settlement (what became the modern town of Bowie, Arizona) grew up around the
railroad station and Hotel at that place, and it came to be called "Teviston,"
in his honour. On March 23, 1887, Tevis filed application for a homestead of 160
acres in Section 9, Township 13 South, Range 28 East, in Cochise County,
claiming settlement in 1880. He was awarded a patent on this homestead on
November 13, 1890, which covered not only his home-place but also the townsite of
Teviston.73

James
Henry Tevis may also, at about this time, have joined the United
Confederate Veterans, the postwar fraternal and benevolent organization of
former Confederate veterans. Although there is no documentary
evidence of this, a photo of Tevis, taken about 1890, shows him in what appears
to be a United Confederate Veterans uniform. It is known that he was
nostalgic about his Confederate service, as he wrote letters during this period
to the TUCSON CITIZEN newspaper describing it. So
joining a local U.C.V. Camp would have been a natural thing for him to do during
these years. Unfortunately, no records of the Arizona United
Confederate Veterans Camps have survived, so this cannot be confirmed with
certainty.

JAMES
HENRY TEVIS, CIRCA 1890

IN
WHAT APPEARS TO BE A U.C.V. UNIFORM

Courtesy
of the William J. Kelly Collection.

In
1891, Tevis was elected as a representative from Cochise County to the House of
Representatives, 16th Territorial Legislature. In 1897, he apparently moved to
Tucson, where he operated the San Xavier Hotel. By 1903, he was back in Teviston,
where on August 5 of that year he was appointed Postmaster. He would serve in
this post until his death, at Tucson, on August 29, 1905 at the age of 69. He
was buried in the family plot at Teviston (now Bowie) Cemetery.74

However,
the town which was named after him no longer is. Today it is called Bowie. The
story of how this came to be is rather amusing. Apparently, there was a dispute
between Tevis and the local stationmaster of the Southern Pacific railroad, a
man named Bean. Bean wanted the town to be named after himself. Tevis, who seems
to have had a sarcastic sense of humour, said to Bean that heíd eaten nothing
but beans three times a day, year after year, and had all he could stand.
Needless to say, Bean was not amused, and he used his influence to see that the
name of the town was changed.75 He was not successful until after
Tevisís death. The name was finally, officially changed on March 18, 1911.76

What,
then, can we finally say of James Henry Tevis? He was tough, fearless,
independent, and resourceful, all qualities that we in Arizona cherish
today. He made many contributions to the history and development of
Arizona, especially to the mining and railroad industries in Cochise County. But
today he is relatively unknown, save to historians. It would seem that
stationmaster Bean had his revenge, after all. But, even though James
Henry Tevis has been deprived of the wide recognition which having a town named
in his honour might have provided, he deserves to be remembered, and it is
hoped that this article will, in some small way, accomplish that object.

NOTES

1Arizona
State University Library, Hayden Pioneer Biographies Collection, biography of
James Henry Tevis, p. 1. The biography is internet accessible at the following
URL;;;http://info.lib.asu.edu/archives/azbio/tevisj.pdf. Hereafter cited
as Hayden.

2

Fanny
Juda, "California Filibusters: A History of their Expeditions into Hispanic
America," THE GRIZZLY BEAR (Official organ of the Native Sons
and Native Daughters of the Golden West), Vol. XXI., No. 4; Whole No. 142 :
February 1919. Excepts re-printed on the website of the Museum of the City of
San Francisco, URL http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/walker.html. Hereafter
cited as Juda.

3

Hayden,
p. 1.

4

Juda.

5

Juda.

6

Hayden,
p. 1.

7

Marshall
Trimble, IN OLD ARIZONA: TRUE TALES OF THE WILD FRONTIER. Phoenix, Arizona:
Golden West Publishers, 1985, p. 114, hereafter cited as Trimble; L. Boyd Finch,
CONFEDERATE PATHWAY TO THE PACIFIC: MAJOR SHEROD HUNTER AND ARIZONA TERRITORY,
C.S.A. Tucson, Arizona: Arizona Historical Society, 1996, p. 252, hereafter
cited as Finch, PATHWAY. Hayden, p. 1, stated that he came to Arizona "with
the Overland Mail Company in 1857," but this is not correct, as it is known
Tevis did not become an employee of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company until
after his arrival in Arizona.

8

Trimble,
p. 141, states that Tevis was in Tucson in late August, but Finch, PATHWAY, p.
252, citing Tevisís own account, gives the July-September window.

Tevis,
letter to Governor Zulick, January 8, 1886, quoted by Hayden, p. 2. Tevis does
not give his reason for disbanding the company, but given the timing, it seems
logical that he possibly disbanded it for the reason cited.

21

Baylorís
report of the events leading up the capture of the Union force, the subsequent
creation of the Confederate Territory of Arizona, as well as the complete text
of Baylorís Proclamation creating the Territory, are reprinted in Horn and
Wallace, pp 33-39.

Hall,
p. 351; see also Finch, PATHWAY, p. 85. Hayden, p. 2, states that Tevis joined
Captain Thomas J. Mastinís Arizona Guards at Pinos Altos, but this is not
correct. The muster rolls of the Arizona Guards do not show Tevis ever enrolled
in that unit...see Hall, pp 367-372...and the muster rolls of the San Elizario
Spy Company do show him enlisted as a private in that company.

24

Hall,
p. 346.

25

Captain
Bethel Coopwood, report to Lt. Col. John R. Baylor, September 29, 1861,
reprinted Horn and Wallace, pp 48-49. On a related note, Hayden, p 2, states
that Tevis "participated in the fight...when Mastin was killed." This
is also not correct. Captain Thomas J. Mastin of the Arizona Guards was mortally
wounded on September 27, 1861 while repelling an Apache assault on the town of
Pinos Altos. On that date, Private Tevis was engaged, with the rest of the San
Elizario Spy Company, in battle with Union cavalry at Canada Alamosa.

26

Finch,
PATHWAY, p. 171 cites a letter from Baylor to Brigadier General Paul O. Hebert
which stated that Hunterís company had been organized "for a regiment of
Rangers." The original order creating the company has, alas, been lost to
history. If so, he doubtless intended to pattern them on the famous Texas
Rangers of his own home State, which had originally been organized for frontier
defense.

John
Robert Baylor, orders to Captain Sherod Hunter, February 10, 1862, found in the
Sherod Hunter "Jacket" at the National Archives, COLLECTIONS OF
PRIVATE MILITARY PAPERS OF OFFICERS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY.

30

These
aims, and others, were detailed in orders issued by Governor Baylor on February
9, 1862, reprinted in Finch, "Hunter," pp 202-203.

31

John
R. Baylor, orders to Sherod Hunter, February 10, 1862, in the Sherod Hunter
"Jacket", National Archives.

32

Sherod
Hunter, in a report to John R. Baylor dated April 5, 1862, states that the
command arrived in Tucson on February 28. The report is reprinted in Horn and
Wallace, pp 200-201. However, on the day prior he had prepared a loyalty oath
for one J. W. Jones, which was signed at Tucson on that date. So Company A had
to have been in Tucson on February 27. See Finch, "Hunter," p. 170.

A
complete itinerary and history of the campaign from the perspective of the Union
California Column can be found in Surgeon James M. McNulty, Acting Medical
Inspector of the California Column, report to General W. A. Hammond, Surgeon
General of the U.S. Army, October 1863, reprinted in Calvin P. Horn and William
S. Wallace, UNION ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST, Albuquerque, New Mexico:
Horn and Wallace, 1961, pp. 81-90, hereafter cited as Horn and Wallace, UNION.

Surgeon
James M. McNulty, report to General W. A. Hammond, October 1863, reprinted in
Horn and Wallace, pp. 81-90.

47

An
excellent discussion of the production and issue of undyed uniforms from the
Huntsville Penitentiary and other sources in the Transmississippi West is found
in Fred Adolphus, "DRAB: The other Confederate Color," CONFEDERATE
VETERAN, September/October 1992, pp 36-41.

48

National
Archives, Compiled Military Service Records of Major Sherod Hunter, Second
Texas-Arizona Cavalry Regiment; Captain Robert Swope, Herbertís Battalion,
Arizona Cavalry; First Lieutenant James Henry Tevis, Hebertís Battalion,
Arizona Cavalry.

Brigadier
General Henry Hopkins Sibley, report to Lt. General T. H. Holmes, 25 December
1862, found in United States War Department, THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: OFFICIAL
RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES, Series I, Volume 15, pp 910-911.
Hereafter cited as WAR OF THE REBELLION.

52

Josephy,
pp 169-170, 174; Finch, PATHWAY, pp. 180-181.

53

Compiled
Military Service Records, Captain Robert L. Swope, Herbertís Battalion,
Arizona Cavalry and lst Lieutenant James Henry Tevis, Herbertís Battalion,
Arizona Cavalry; Finch, PATHWAY, p. 181. A voucher for clothing for the company
which was found in Lieutenant Tevisís Compiled Service Record shows that as
late as June 1, 1863 (after Herbertís Battalion was broken up), Tevis was
still signing documents as "1st Lieutenant, Commanding Company."

54

Josephy,
pp. 170-172.

55

Letter
from Captain James Henry Tevis to the TUCSON DAILY CITIZEN, January 6, 1899; see
also Finch, PATHWAY, p. 181.

A
brief history of Saufleyís Texas Scouting Battalion, attached to Captain Tevisís
Compiled Military Service Record from the time period when the Arizona Scouts
were assigned as Company E of the battalion, states that the battalionís men
had been "detailed from Baylorís, Chisumís, Crumpís, and Madisonís
Regíts, Texas Cavalry." The "Baylorís Regiment" mentioned is
in fact Colonel George Wythe Baylorís Second Texas-Arizona Cavalry Regiment.
Since Sherod Hunter was a Major in this regiment, and since he was good friends
with Captain Tevis, it seems likely that he might have "pulled
strings" to get his friend Captain Tevis and the other Arizona men assigned
to the Second Texas-Arizona. But there is no direct proof of this.

59

Josephy,
pp 186-188.

60

Sifakis,
pp 44,48.

61

Compiled
Military Service Record, Captain James H. Tevis, Company E, Saufleyís Texas
Scouting Cavalry Battalion. See also the history of Saufleyís Scouting
Battalion which is attached to the Captain Tevisís Compiled Military Service
Record..

62

Colonel
James Duff, report to Major W. T. Mechling, Assistant Adjutant General, First
Division, Army of Texas, January 29, 1864, in WAR OF THE REBELLION, Series I,
Volume 34, Part II, p 927; Colonel James Duff, report to Captain E. P. Turner,
Assistant Adjutant General, February 27, 1864, in WAR OF THE REBELLION, Series
I, Volume 34, Part II, p. 1001.

63

Their
presence during this campaign is confirmed by Colonel George Wythe Baylor,
report to Captain Ogden, Assistant Adjutant General, in WAR OF THE REBELLION,
Series I, Volume 34, Part I, pp 616-625. The company is mentioned by name twice
in this report, with the capture of the Emma being recounted in on p.
621. The wounding of Captain Tevis is not mentioned in the report, but First
Lieutenant Smith is listed as being in command as of May 1, when the Emma
was captured. Rich Saathoff, in his excellent article on Company A, states that
Tevis was wounded at Mansfield, but the present author has been unable to find
independent documentation of that. Saathoffís article can be viewed on the
internet at: http://www.geocities.com/hardeeflag/arizonarangers/. Finch,
PATHWAY, p. 209, cites Tevisís postwar claims.